Among the Dead
by MidnightStarsXx
Summary: She was forced asleep in the world we know today, but when she woke up she was surrounded by walking corpses out for living flesh. Now, she's on a mission to find her family but there are a lot of obstacles in her way: Walkers, low supplies, an old injury, missing siblings, pressure to find a cure and a tall, dark, handsome head-buster. HAITUS.
1. Chapter 1 - Opening Yours Eyes

**Hola guys! I've started another story~  
Its M for violence and language and POSSIBLY a lemon. Not so sure though, since I tend to feel embarrassed when trying to write a lemon scene. **

**Anyways, so hopefully you guys can tell by the description that this is a zombie apocalyptic AU story. No wings. I've been really into zombies lately. I've been Resident Evil a lot, played the Left4Dead games, I'm also watching The Walking Dead on Netflix too. It's AMAZING. I love the whole concept of zombies for some reason and I've been searching high and low for zombie apocalyptic AU stories in my favorite fandoms. So far, the only good one I've been able to find was one in the Naruto Fandom (SasuSaku story) and a Fax one-shot that I can't seem to find anymore ;_;**

**After a while, I just decided that I wanted to write one myself. I'm still trying to find the motivation to finish my other AU Fax story. I have to go back and rewrite some chapters since I found a new (way better) way of writing dance scenes ;w; **

**So, I'm just putting this first chapter up as a test drive. Let me know if you guys like this and would like for me to continue it. I already have the fire few chapters written but I want every person who reads this' input. Seriously~ **

**Onwards to the story! Disclaimer at the end. BTW: Sorry for any mistakes, too. Let me know where they're at and I'll fix them. **

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**Chapter 1 - Opening You're Eyes to a Whole New World**

**_One year ago..._**

She had been in a car accident before it all happened. She had the hit the dashboard so hard she was put into a coma. She was lucky enough to not have been conscious enough to feel her bones breaking, skin tearing and a thin metal pipe run through her abdomen.

She was lucky enough to still _just_ be in the coma.

_"Hey, Baby Girl." _

_"How's it goin', Max?" _

All she remembers is feeling the pressure and warmth of her family and friends' hands holding her hand, brushing back her curly hair, or trying to get a rise out of her. She remembers hearing the voices of those who came to visit her. Especially those of her doctor.

_"She's healing remarkably fast, faster than I've ever seen with anyone, yet she won't respond to any of our voices of touches...I'm sorry, but she may be brain dead_," The doctors had told her sobbing family one day.

She couldn't be brain dead! No! She was still here! She wanted to yell and scream at the doctor to stop telling her family such lies! She wanted to punch a wall and tell them, "Look at me! I'm right here! I'm still alive! I'm NOT brain dead!" But no. She couldn't. She couldn't speak, let alone wiggle her big toe or open her eyes. They just said she was healing remarkably fast, so why the hell couldn't she move?

_"We'll take her off life support with your permission." _

God, they were going to kill her! She's still here! Why can't she move? God, help her!

It felt like minutes after she heard the doctor's haunting voice when she opened her eyes. She was surprised with how dark the room was, how cold it was. She expected to see her family sobbing in the corner with a remorseful looking doctor standing by the door. She expected to see her sister jump up and sob happily that she was awake again. Instead, she was met with an empty room.

She felt so groggy and weak. She wanted to go back to sleep but the eerie silence is what kept her awake. She thought she would hear the sounds of busy doctors and nurses shuffling outside her door in the hallway. She thought she would hear the sounds of people talking. Most importantly, she thought she would hear the sounds of her heart monitor.

She was in complete silence. Not even the sound of chirping birds outside her window graced her ears.

She turned to the table beside her and saw a plate of cookies... covered in mold. They didn't even look like cookies anymore, actually. It looked like they had been drenched in sewage and left out in the sun for days. Max's stomach churned with nausea at the sight of them and looked away to take deep breaths. Once the watery taste in her mouth was gone, Max reached behind her head with a shaky and pressed the button to call the nurse. A few minutes later and there was no nurse.

Max frowned. _'Fine,'_ she thought. _'I'll get up to use the bathroom by myself._'

Summoning all her strength, Max threw the hospital sheets aside and tried to sit up. She gasped in pain when her side complained angrily. Her head began to pound and suddenly, Max was so aware how just how badly battered her body was.

_'How bad was the accident?'_ She asked herself.

Max winced through the pain as she sat up in the bed. She looked around the cold, empty room in confusion. Max sighed and tried to move her legs but they were too heavy. Max grunted as she grabbed both her legs with her hands and threw them over the side of the bed. She cried out when her side began to burn but bit her lip to quiet herself. She touched her side and wonder just what really happened that day. She couldn't really remember anything. Just the laughing face of her friend in the driver seat then darkness.

The pain had cause the need to use the bathroom to disappear but Max decided to get out of bed anyways. She wants to know why the hell no one came for her when she called! What kind of hospital is this?

Max ripped off all the wires connected to her body and carefully took out the needles from her arms. Nothing was pumping anyways. The bags were completely empty. That greatly confused Max. _'This hospital sucks,'_ she thought to herself.

She slowly got to her feet but pain burst in her abdomen and she fell, her legs giving out, to the floor in a heap. She cried out and groaned when her vision began to spin again. Her side hurt. It was like the worst kind of soreness you could possibly feel. Her muscles complained loudly with every little movement she made. She could feel a headache coming on. Briefly, she looked at the back of her hand and saw her veins popping around. The dry feeling in her mouth was also an obvious sign that she was greatly dehydrated.

Wounded body and dehydration. Not a good combination. _Obviously._

"Ah! Nurse!" She cried, hoping this time, they'll come help her up. She couldn't get up herself. She felt so weak. How long was she in that bed? Last time she remembered, she was a well built, strong kick boxer with high hopes of being known in the Woman's MMA world. Now, she could barely push herself to her knees. "Nurse!"

Still no one came.

"What the hell, nurse!" She cried out again. She looked around the room for anything that could help her get to her feet and saw the chair in the corner of the room. She began to drag herself, with great difficulty, towards it before pushing herself up until her belly hung over the armrest. She caught her breath before gathering all her strength and pushing herself up to her feet. God, why did her legs feel so weak? Like as if there were no muscles there anymore to support her! Doing that had to have taken at least 15 minutes or more. How pathetic.

Max slowly stood up straight, grabbing onto the wall and the chair for support. When she was fully straight, her world spun for a few seconds before her vision cleared and her pounding headache disappeared.

Now, to find out where the hell those damn nurses are.

Max slowly took baby-steps towards the door, her need to use the bathroom long gone, while once in a while, almost loosing her sense of balance but managing to regain it quickly. When she reached the door, she swung it open... only to have her way blocked by a gurney. Max grumbled silently to herself as she looked down each hallway in confusion.

The condition of the hospital completely stunned her. Everything was dark. Wires hung down from the ceiling, trash was littered everywhere and so where so many hospital equipment. Some lights that had managed to stay in their place on the ceiling flickered on and off every so often while other where completely dark or broken. Doors hung off of their hinges, some had gaping, splintering holes in them, like someone took an axe to it. Paint was beginning to peel off of the walls and some tiles were completely shattered. It looked like it's been abandoned for years.

What the hell happened?

Max grunted as she moved the gurney out of the way. Feeling the strain in her muscles only reminded her that she was in that hospital bed a lot longer than she thought if she's actually lost strength.

Why was the hospital in such a condition? Where the hell is everyone else? Even if the hospital really was abandoned, why in the world was she left here alone? _'You'd think that if they were going to abandon a hospital, they'd evacuate all the patients and take them somewhere else. Not leave them behind like trash.'_ Max thought bitterly.

That's when the smell hit her. The smell of rotting flesh, of death. Her nose wrinkled in disgust and her stomach churned at the absolute strength of the stench.

The injured teenaged girl made her way down one of the hallways looking for any signs of life at all. Maybe other patients who were left behind. Someone who could help her at all; tell her what had happened, where everyone was, and more importantly, where to go to find the exit.

When Max turned the corner, her breath hitched in her throat when she caught sight of the walls. What looked to be a row of bullets in the wall caught Max's attention. Some bullet holes were clean shots, others seemed to have blood splattered around it. She knew well that who ever was in the line of fire at the time was definitely killed. The bullet holes were the same height as Max's head and she was fairly tall for a girl. Not only was the paint and wallpaper starting to peel and fall off with bullet holes scattered in them, there were also blood smeared on them. Everywhere. Max's eyes widened at the gory sight. Bloody handprints were spread about the hallways. There were pools of blood in the corner and even bloody drag marks that lead into a closed door that Max had no intentions of going near.

Max suddenly thought, _'I wish that I wasn't barefooted.' _It felt so wrong thinking about keeping her feet clean of blood when there most likely were dead bodies laying around her...

Max continued to make her way down the hallway to the double-doors at the end of the corridor, trying to think of something else other than dead bodies and the blood around her. The double-doors were labeled, "Personnel Only" but she felt like maybe she'd find something, or someone. There was also the fact that there didn't seem to be anyone around really who would scold her for disobeying rules.

When she peered through the little windows in the door, she was just met with another corridor in the same condition as the one she was currently in... only difference is that there was a body laying in the middle of floor.

Not just a body... A bloody body... A bloody body that looked like it had it's ribs and down ripped off.

The woman - at least that's what it looks like to Max - looked like she had been through a giant paper shredder, then burned then left to rot in the middle of the floor after her insides were torn out. Her face was bloodied and sunken it. The skin of her face... actually looked like it was ripped off, showing off the rotting muscles of her cheek bone and her teeth and decaying gums.

Max's breathing became shallow as her heart began racing in her chest and she, again, felt like throwing up. God, who did that to the poor woman?

One thing Max didn't expect was to see the head of the dead woman turn and look in her direction. Max's eyes widened in shock and she clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

The... the _thing_ made a low growling noise in the back of it's throat before slowly moving onto it's non-existant belly and crawling in the direction of the door Max was standing behind. When the injured girl saw it crawling towards her, she gasped and stumbled backwards until she accidentally tripped over something and landed on the floor. She bit her lip from yelping when she side began to throb painfully and her bottom stung. Pushing past the fog of pain, Max looked towards the door before searching for what she had tripped over.

Max clamped towards hands to her mouth again when she saw the corpse of a beheaded nurse laying on the ground with it's limbs bent at un-natural angles. How is it that she didn't see that _before_? She scrambled up to her feet, ignoring the pain of her body's injuries, and began frantically searching for an exit. What the hell was going on?

Max stopped in the middle of an intersection and looked down one hallway. Nothing but more doors. She turned to look at the other hallway and saw double doors. Out of curiosity, she made her way down and to the door. It was chained, locked and had a metal bar run through the handles.

That's when she noticed the black spray paint on the doors.

"Do not open. The dead are inside." She whispered out loud, reading the words. She furrowed her eyebrows. Why would dead bodies need to be locked and chained inside a room. In the back of her mind, she knew it was something beyond her knowledge and her first clue was the crawling dead woman she saw before.

She got her answer when suddenly a hand began to slither it's way out of the crack in the door. Then Max heard moans and growls, she thought she even heard something _screech_. What the hell was behind that door? Max took one step closer but covered her mouth with both hands again when multiple hands began reaching out to her.

Hyperventilating, heart racing and adrenaline pumping, Max didn't think twice when she took off down the hallway, avoiding puddles of blood and jumping over fallen cables, ceiling tiles, hospital gurney's and... _bodies. _She didn't even stop to worry about her weakened muscles or _feel_ her wounded side. The adrenaline running through her system works wonders.

Max finally found an exit door. She cried out in relief and happiness and wasted no time pushing herself against the door and stumbling out. The brightness of the day hurt her eyes a bit but she grinned when she realized, she was finally out of that mad house! She grabbed onto the railing, eyes closed and inhaled a deep breath of cool, fresh-

Max began coughing violently. Ugh! The stench was horrid and acrid! Just like inside the damned hospital! She suddenly felt like vomiting what contents (if any at all) in her stomach over the railing. What was making that horrible smell? She thought the worst.

Max opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. Her heart stopped in fear and her limps began to shake. She walked down the stairs, slowly, her hands tight on the railings as she was afraid that her legs wouldn't be able to hold her up if she didn't hang on. Once she was at the bottom, her bare feet touching the cement, she slowly began making her way down the hill to the open gate. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide in disbelief.

She was surrounded by dead bodies wrapped in white, bloody sheets. And there wasn't just a few. Not even twenty or thirty, either. Max felt like she was surrounded by over 100 dead bodies. Her breathing was coming in in deep gasps. This couldn't be happening! How were there so many rotting dead bodies? Was there some kind of plague going on, just like her history text book said happened back in the Dark Ages? Was that possible anymore? Max thought that the technology today would quickly come up with a cure for something like that!

Max was going crazy. That's what was going on. The car accident that she was in not only gave her a head concussion, it messed her up. This is all some wicked, crazy nightmare that she was in! Yes, that's it. None of this was real. The blood on the walls, these dead bodies, the double doors, that half body nurse crawling towards her was just her sick imagination. This. Is. All. _A_. _Dream_.

"Alright!" She yelled. "I get it! This is all a dream!" Max began laughing to herself. "Nothing's real, Max. It's all a dream. You're asleep. Probably in an insane asylum, but asleep nonetheless. Nothing's real, _nothing's real_." Max crouched down and wrapped her arms around her bare knees, not caring that the hospital gown she had on began slipping off, revealing her bra and panties to the world. Who else was there to see it but the dead who were _dead_ and also, **_not real._**

What happened next changed Max's life.

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**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any Maximum Ride characters mentioned in this story. ALSO: I DO NOT OWN THE COVER PICTURE. ART WAS CREATED BY =AprilMcGuire ON DEVIANTART. LINK TO THE DRAWING ON MY PROFILE. **

**CLAIMER: I own the plot (minus the beginning; I got the hospital scene from the first episode of The Walking Dead) and any unknown temporary characters mentioned in this story.**

**Review and tell me what you guys think, please? =]**


	2. Chapter 2 - Survival Instinct

_"Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."_

**Martin Luther King Jr.**

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**Chapter 2 - _Survival Instinct_**

What happened that day Max woken up changed her. All her yelling and hysterical crying and laughing had drawn the attention of near by _"dead things"_ as Max first began calling them before later on learning the names they were dubbed by other survivors.

She couldn't hear their moans and grunts as they shuffled towards her with only the one thought of ripping apart sweet flesh to fill their stomachs.

Max was in hysterics. She couldn't figure out, for the life of her, why she wouldn't wake up. She thought that once she realized everything was a nightmare, she would wake up and be back in her bed at home, hidden under her thick blanket and millions of pillows with her annoying, yet beloved, younger sister yelling at her from outside her room to get up... Or at least wake up in some insane asylum, strapped to a bed with nurses above her with needles, ready to put her back to sleep.

She tried everything, she hit herself, she pinched her skin, she even went as far as to slap her wound and pound her head against the cement. It did nothing but leave her with a new wound on her forehead, a headache, and the painful sense that this was indeed reality and not a simple dream.

She really got in a car accident and was put in a coma.

She did wake up to an abandoned hospital with dead bodies piled up outside.

She did wake up alone.

Max finally looked up from staring at her hands and noticed the walking dead walking towards her from different directions. Her eyes widened and she screamed in panic. Acting on instinct, she jumped to the side just as a clawed hand came down on her and she felt temporary relief that she trusted her gut in that moment. She looked around and noticed that there was no where she could run. She was trapped. They began to circle her and all Max could think of was to find a way to protect herself. If she were to die now, she wasn't going down without a fight. That just wasn't how she worked.

Thinking quickly, she darted over to a crumbling wooden fence near the hospital's dead bodies and ripped off a board of wood. She felt so happy when she noticed that there were still nails embedded in the wood. She turned to the nearest zombie and yelled out as she swung at it's head. The impact was spine chilling. Max watched as what looked like was a decaying man fell to the ground motionless. Max was surprised to see the side of his head was caved in.

She officially loved adrenaline for giving her unknown strength.

She officially just realized she killed a man. She killed someone.

_"You can panic about committing the ultimate sin later, Max. Or at least, you can do it in Purgatory or _whatever!_" _she thought to herself.

Unfortunately, the wood being used as her weapon was also old and had broken when she hit the man. She turned her head and promptly threw it at the head of the next closest man. The hit wasn't strong enough to bash in his head like the last one but it did knock him off balance which gave her more time.

When she turned around, though, she felt her heart go into over drive. They were much too close now. There had to be about a dozen of them. They all growled and moaned, some had blood spilling out of their mouth while others turned to her with sightless white eyes. Max's internal alarms were screaming at her to get out of there but she couldn't find an opening to run through without somehow getting caught by those things.

She was going to die at the hands of those things.

As soon as that thought passed through her head, she heard the sound of something whizzing through the air and embed itself into the head of a man that was behind her unknowingly. She whirled around in surprise and looked for whoever shot the man.

Her father used to be a scientist but he was also a hunter and showed her many guns and how to use them. She was taught everything there was to know. Hunting was in the family. Whoever shot was using a silencer, which is why she didn't hear a gun shot before. Why use a silencer, though?

She scanned the area and saw a couple. A man and a woman (who looked very much _alive_) standing hidden behind a car, both had rifles in their hands and paid her no mind as they swiftly and quickly shot down every moving, decaying body around her. She sort of just stood there in a stunned silence. She stared at them, hearing the sounds of dropping bodies around her.

She felt relief and overwhelming gratefulness but she couldn't bring herself to do anything else but stare at them. Once, apparently, they finished, they set down their rifles and ran over to her.

The woman was the first one who reached her. She didn't touch her though. She stood a good two feet from her and asked quickly, "Did any of them touch you? Bite you? Did any of their blood touch your wound?"

The man reached her next. He didn't say anything as he studied her carefully with guarded, suspicious eyes. Max studied them both too. The woman looked like she was a more gentler woman before _whatever_ happened. Like she spent most of her way smiling, cooking and planting flowers. She had soft blonde hair and dark green eyes with tanned, calloused skin. The man next to her looked like her copy. _'Siblings,'_ was Max's single thought which caused a lump to rise in her throat. Where was her sister? What happened to that annoying girly girl that Max loved so much?

"She asked you a question, little girl. I suggest you answer her." The man spoke roughly. His voice was deep and low but Max could definitely pick up a southern twang that reminded her so much of her father's mother, her grandmother, who grew up in Tennessee.

The woman kept her eyes on Max but swiftly hit him in the gut with the butt of her rifle. He grunted and glared at the back of her head. "I'm sorry," the woman said, her voice soft. "he's just stupid sometimes. Would you mind answering my questions, though, please?"

Max decided she liked the woman right now. So she nodded her head and cleared her throat, "No, none of them touched me or bit me and the only blood on me is mine."

The woman muttered a grateful thanks to the Man Upstairs before engulfing Max in a surprise hug. Max stood stiff for a moment before she relaxed a bit and slowly wrapped her arms around the woman. "You looked like you really needed a hug," the woman whispered in her ear. Max hadn't realized it herself until the woman said so and she felt tears well up in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away, feeling like they were a weakness. She was just so confused and overwhelmed and _worried_ ever since she woke up in the hospital bed.

Max's body trembled with the tears she held in. She couldn't cry, especially not in front of strangers, no matter how nice they were being to her at the moment. They saved her life. There's no need for tears.

Max, though, did hug the woman tighter and bury her head in the woman's neck. "Thank you," Max murmured, still trembling but refusing to shed a tear.

The woman pulled back and Max felt reluctant to let go but did so anyways. The hug reminded Max too much of her mother. The blonde woman smiled at her and said in the same Southern Twang the man had, "Let's go get you cleaned up." She grabbed Max's arm and wrapped it around her own neck before supporting her body with her other arm. The man grabbed the woman's rifle for her as he led the way to wherever they were taking Max.

Apparently Max had passed out half way there, because when she woke up, she was laying in a bed in a fairly nice bedroom that looked like it belong to a little girl. She actually felt so much better than she did before but she felt so sore. She looked around the room in slight confusion then remembered the couple that helped her.

Something else she noticed was that she was handcuffed to the bed she was laying on.

She was handcuffed... to the freaking bed.

"What the _hell?_" Max said out loud. She pulled against the cuffs, hoping to somehow get free, but to no avail. Her words must have alerted her all too _kind_ hosts and the sounds of feet walking down the hall reached Max's ears.

When the door opened the woman walked in with an apologetic smile on her face. The man, on the other hand, had his face guarded again. He walked in with caution and distrust in his eyes. He also walked in with a hand gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. Out in the open. He actually _wanted_ Max to see he had a gun. Like a warning. What the actual fuck?

"I'm sorry, hon', but my brother has always been naturally suspicious. When I told him your had a hole in your abdomen, he decided to cuff you in case you had been infected." She woman said, standing with the man at the foot of the bed.

Max furrowed her eyebrows, utterly confused. "Infected with what? I'm seriously confused to whatever the hell is going on right now." Max said, pulling on the handcuffs one more time.

This time, the man decided to show emotion, but it looked like anger. "Don't play dumb, little girl. Everyone knows. It's almost worldwide! Now, are you infected or not?" He spat angrily, leaning forward with his hand on his gun.

"Eric!" The woman gasped.

"Let me handle thing, Isabelle, or we'll never get anything done." He replied to her, not taking his eyes off of Max.

"Woah! I seriously don't know anything!" Max raised her voice, feeling defensive and frustrated that she was in such a vulnerable position. "I don't know what kind of infection your talking about. I just woke up today to find dead bodies everywhere and some zombies-things trying to kill me!" Max and the man, Eric, glared at each other, and though Max was telling the truth, everything in Eric's expression screamed that he thought she was lying.

"How did you get that wound then, huh? Some Walker try to rip your guts out?" He growled.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Max suddenly yelled.

"Shh!" The woman said, quickly making her way to Max's said with wide, frightened eyes. "Please, don't yell or make too much noise or else you'll attract the Walkers' attention."

"I have no idea who the _Walkers_ are! Will someone please explain it to me!" Max spoke, much quieter this time, though she doesn't know why she decided to listen to Isabelle. The two gave her confused looked, like they couldn't believe she actually didn't know what Walkers were. How did they expect her to know? Was she just supposed to wake up from her coma into this fucked up world to just suddenly _know_ everything?

They ignored her demand and the man asked, "How did you get a wound?"

Max glared at him before saying, "I was in a car accident before I woke up today. I guess some kind of metal pipe ran me through."

The woman gasped. "How are you still alive?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know. I remember being in a coma. I guess, the doctors took me into surgery and they fixed me up as best as they could. I remember hearing that they thought I was brain dead when I wasn't. Does that answer your question?"

The man, suddenly turned his back to Max, a hand on his hip and the other rubbing his face. "You mean to tell me that when we found you, you had just literally _woken up_... from a coma? In that overrun hospital?"

"That would a be positive, Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass." Max sneered, knowing damn well that she was being rude but was too angry, confused and frustrated to give a fuck.

Eric whirled around with a murderous look on his face but sighed and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before looking at the woman. "Please, dress her and bring her downstairs. I'll have dinner ready soon." Then he walked out the door without another word.

Max sighed before letting her head plop back down onto the pillow. "Please tell me that all of what happened earlier was just a nightmare I'm having right now."

Isabelle sighed before grabbing a key from her back pocket and leaned over Max to un-cuff her. "Unfortunately, no, hon'. We all wish it was just a nightmare." Max sighed and sat up, careful of her wound, and rubbed her wrists before getting help form Isabelle out of the bed. "I have some clothes you can change into. Do you need any help?"

Max shook her head, no. Sure, it'd be a little hard, but she would manage. Plus, she was never for one to change in front of people. Not even in gym throughout middle school and her freshman and sophomore years in high school. She wasn't shy, not at all, it just didn't feel right to her to flash skin in front of strangers. She only does when absolutely necessary.

Isabelle handed her a stack of clothes before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her. Max immediately began to peel off of her old clothes and put on the new clothes. Putting on the pants was a bit hard, considering her abdomen loved to complain angrily every time she bent over. After she finished changing, she assessed herself in a mirror.

Isabelle gave her pretty decent clothes. A pair of snug, yet stretchable jeans, a black tank top and a brown, loose long sleeve shirt. For shoes, Isabelle was kind enough to give her a pair of hiking boots.

Clothes made to be easy to travel and run in.

Max made her way out of the room though with an almost unnoticeable limp in her steps. When she reached the end of the hallway, she looked down the stairs and sighed. This was going to be a small challenge. She grabbed the railing with her hand and used her other hand to press against the wall to help steady her as she made her way down the stairs, step-by-step. Her wound stung but otherwise felt fine.

When she finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, Isabelle rounded the corner of another hallway and gasped, "Oh my! Honey, you could've waited for me to help you down!" She rushed towards Max and wrapped an arm, gently, around Max's ribs and helped her to the kitchen.

Once Max sat down in a chair, she gave Isabelle a slight smile and said, "I'm fine, really. Thank you though."

The home Isabelle and Eric lived in was big, but had a very cozy feel to it. Very homey. Max could imagine a large, happy family living here with children running around and giggling while a mother and father curled up on a couch watching their children play happily with a coffee in each hand.

Maybe this was Isabelle and Eric's childhood home. They definitely looked like siblings.

Isabelle had just sat down across the table from Max when Eric came in, two bowls in one hand a another balanced on his arm. He set down one bowl in front of Isabelle and the other in front of Max before taking a seat next to the blonde woman and setting down his own bowl. It was noodles. Like instant ramen. Instantly (no pun intended), Max's stomach growled and her mouth watered. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until that moment.

They all ate in silence. Not a word spoken, though there didn't need to be. It felt almost awkward to Max, but at the same time, it was comforting. Everything in her world was flipped upside down the moment she opened her eyes after they shut during the accident. Lord, knows how long she had been asleep but it felt like minutes instead of days or (for all she even knew) months, _years_, maybe. The silence was comforting that not everything was lost.

Once the trio finished their food, Eric set down his spoon and cleared his throat loudly. "So, by what you've told us, you've been in a coma because of an accident that happened before." Max nodded in confirmation. "So, you know absolutely nothing of the Outbreak?" Max shook her head and Eric sighed.

"...Could you explain it for me?" Max asked.

Isabelle took in a deep breath before launching into her explanation. "It all started just a year ago-" ('_So I was in a coma for a year or maybe a couple months less._' Max thought.) "- when there was just a few cases that the government wrote off as fakes. There were cannibalism attacks, strange ones where the cannibal wouldn't go down from police gun shots until they were struck in the head. Officials just said that they were drugged up on something to keep them from feeling pain or something like that.

"Then the cases started growing. People went missing. Some were murdered suddenly with their body laying out in the open. Then, the bodies started disappearing. That's when we all knew it was something bigger than we thought." Isabelle said, brushing back strands of blonde behind her ear.

Eric continued. "After a while, it just seemed to die down and no one thought about it for long... then it just returned full force. Only difference was that it seemed like an army of them just swooped in and started sating their hunger. They attacked anywhere and anyone they could find and took them down mercilessly." Eric paused and a frown marred his face. His eyes had a far away look in them, like he was looking back in time. He looked absolutely frightened. "We call them Walkers or as most people knew before as zombies."

"Woah," Max interrupted. She frowned at them and leaned forward with her forearm rested against the tabletop and her other hand on her wrist. "Woah, woah, woah. You mean to tell me that those _things_ that attacked me weren't actually drugged up guys in halloween costumes? You mean to tell me that they were actual _zombies_?" This was not something she expected. It was hard to process but when she made the connection to the hoard that was going to attack her, it made a lot of sense. She was never one for fictional ideas. Surprisingly, her favorite subject in school was history, simply because everything was _real_ and there was always something to learn from each piece of history. Not much to learn about talking dogs, magic unicorns or kids with wings, let alone _zombies._

"I know it's hard to believe," Isabelle said with a small smile. "But it's the truth. The walking dead is real and if we weren't there to protect you, you would have been their next meal."

Max's nose wrinkled in disgust and had to swallow back the bile that rose in her throat. "How did it all start?"

"No one knows," Isabelle answered.

"Some people think it's some new disease that mosquitos passed onto humans." Eric added.

"Or just something that developed itself from mutated cells and bacteria in the body."

"Or a government test that got out of hand. You know, for new military weapons."

"This is crazy," Max mumbled as she dragged both her hands into her curly light brown hair. She faintly remembers having blonde, natural sun streaks in her hair before. They probably faded in the hospital.

"I know it's a big thing to process but it's unfortunately reality." Eric said. "We're the Survivors. We're the strongest, we're the ones who know how to fight to stay alive. You need to learn how to do that if you don't want to be Walker Meat."

"No," Isabelle gave him a stern glare. "She needs to heal first. _Then_ she can learn. Right now, it'll be too hard for her." Eric rolled his eyes and simply nodded.

"My brother and I have sort of made it our job to help out Survivors. I used to be a nurse in the very hospital you woke up in. Eric used to hunt a lot as a hobby before he joined the military. US Marine Corps." Isabelle answered, standing up to pick up the bowls before walking out of the room.

Max raised an eyebrow at Eric. "Marine Corps? That's huge."

"Yeah," he answered. "I managed to come home for a visit before they demanded all troops go out into Seattle to get rid of the treat..." He stayed silent for a while before he continued with his head bent down, like he was ashamed. "The whole troop was wiped out. I feel horrible for saying this, especially considering my best friends were there, but I'm glad I wasn't there."

Max lowered her eyes to the table top. She didn't know what to say. She wasn't in the military, hell, she wasn't even done with _high school_. She hadn't lost her best friends (that she knows of) and can't possibly imagine the pain it must feel to know that you stayed home while your men went out and got themselves killed. Max didn't want to say anything. Anything she said could have something negative in it. _I'm sure Isabelle is glad you stayed_. Well, I'm sure that my best friend's families wish they stayed too. _Well, you didn't know what was going to happen. You probably thought it would go off without a hitch._ We all took a pledge to serve this nation. We aren't supposed to hide like cowards. We protect this country.

Bah. Comforting wasn't usually her thing, anyways.

Isabelle came back in moments later. She sat down with a contemplative expression on her face. "You know, now that I think of it, I think I remember hearing a report about you in the Hospital. My memory is a bit fuzzy since the Outbreak but I remember some other nurses talking about how it's a miracle that such a young girl managed to stay alive, even if you were in a coma, after having such a large pipe run her through completely."

"So, you're saying that I shouldn't be alive?" Max raised an eyebrow.

Her eyes widened and she blushed. "Oh, no, no! That's not it! I'm sorry. It's just it's really amazing. We really don't get very many lucky cases like that. Your surgeon was prepared to go drown himself in alcohol after the surgery. He was that convinced you wouldn't survive."

"Well, I must be one lucky girl then, cause I'm still breathing." Max replied with a smirk.

Isabelle grinned back. "That you are."

Max paused before asking, "What's the date today?"

"November 17th, 2014," Eric answered.

A bitter smile stretched on Max's face. "Happy 16th birthday to me."

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I don't know any MR characters mentioned in this story. Some scenes may be similar to TV drama show '_The Walking Dead_'  
CLAIMER: I own any minor unknown characters (Like Eric and Isabelle) and the plot**

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**I almost forgot to update this week! D: Sorry guys! School is kicking my buttocks.**

**I'm reading 1984 by George Orwell and I have to answer like a billion questions critically plus a book I have to read for Native Spanish class and geometry and History and then I'm worrying about getting my dorky buddy a present for his birthday and then I have to remember to update then I have my suicide prevention counseling training thing to do on Mondays and Thursday from 5 to 9 PM and WAH. BRAIN. OVERLOAD.**

**So, in other words. I'm stressing out ;_; If I don't update for a long time, just know it's because all my teachers hate me and decide to assign up brutal homework. Sorry for the above by the way. That was just me ranting pathetically.**

**Anyways... I hope you enjoyed this next chapter! Review please, it would mean DA WORLD to me~**

**REVIEW PLEASE**


	3. Chapter 3 - Tackle the World Alone

_"In everybody's life there's a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That's how we survive." _

**-Haruki Murakami**

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**Chapter 3 - Tackle the World Alone**

Max ended up staying at Eric and Isabelle's home for about 3 months and a half. They welcomed her with open arms and helped her heal and teach her everything she needed to know to survive.

Thanks to Isabelle, she knows everything she needs to do if she's ever injured or wounded severely or she crossed anyone else who is in a similar condition. She knows how to stitch, bandage, disinfect, and remove anything she needs to and more.

_"But if you become infected or you find someone else who has become infected... unfortunately, there is nothing more you can do for them or yourself. There is no known cure. If that ever happens... a single bullet to the head will do." _Isabelle had told her during one of her lessons.

Thanks to Eric, Max knows how to aim, fire, and reload without a singly struggle, screw up or slip. Unfortunately, he also trained Max down to the core as soon as her wound healed (which healed faster than Isabelle has ever seen). She's gained almost all her muscle back, thanks to Eric's merciless training, and she's practically an expert with guns, though she has a lot to learn still. 3 months isn't as long as you'd think.

_"Always shoot the head. Shoot the legs if you want to knock them down and get them off your tail if you're being chased but in the end, always put a bullet in the head. That's the only way to take them out. Now, take a deep breath, aim... fire." _

Max felt sad to leave them but knew that she couldn't burden them any longer. It was just an extra person to feed and take care of. Plus, she _needed_ to find out what happened to her family. Were they alive? Were they survivors like Max, Isabelle and Eric?

She didn't want to think about anything else. Her main goal: survive and find her family.

Isabelle had given Max an old military backpack Eric didn't need anymore and filled it in with necessary supplies. Food for about a month (_"I know you have a big appetite but you need to be conservative with this food. Once it's gone, it's gone."_ Isabelle had told her when packing), a first-aid kit, one change of clothes, and magazines for the guns Eric is letting her have. Plus, some... _female necessities._

Once she was out of food, she'd have to rely on finding her own food unless she wanted to starve. Once the ammo is out or any guns are damaged, it's her own job to find new weapons. She was going to be on her own now.

After Max shared goodbyes and hugs from her new friends and mentors, she took off down the road, keeping a keen eye out for any movement or any sounds.

Truth be told, she was a bit scared, she was nervous. Was if she locked up when she ran into a Walker? What if she wasn't as quiet as she thought and attracted them to her? What if she stumbles and looses her gun?

As Max walked down the empty street, she shook her head and pressed her lips into a thin line. No! There was no time for thinking like that. She needs to stay strong and rely on her instincts, just like Eric taught her. Thinking with her brain to survive will keep her safe when it came to nutrition and shelter but relying on instincts when fighting will give her a greater chance of dying of old age instead of at 15 - wait, it's been a year, _16 - _in the hands... in the _multiple_ hands of Walkers.

Her first stop was shelter. Her first night will be spent in her old home.

She remembers talking with Eric, once, about the lay out of the neighborhoods surrounding the hospital and the best routes to get to where she'll need to go safely as possible. She was in Tacoma, just about forty minutes to Seattle and thirty to a small town where her home is in Tukwila. Her final destination was to make it to a large safe house located in the capital of Washington State, Olympia, about 30 minutes away from Tukwila.

That's driving time, at least. If Max were to walk, it'd take her seven hours from Tacoma to Tukwila, ten hours from there to Seattle, and eighteen hours from Seattle to Olympia.

If she planned this right, she'll make it to her final destination in three to four days if she takes one day of break in her home. If she manages to steal a car, then that cuts down her whole schedule by three days. Only problem is, that a car can draw a lot of attention from Walkers.

For Max, she'd rather risk walking. Stealing a car will be a last, desperate resort.

So, as Max continued to walk, she grabbed her backpack from around her shoulders and grabbed a simple hand-gun with a silencer attached and a map of Washington. She stopped for a bit, memorizing her route before folding and sticking her map in her back pack again and her gun in the waistband of her jeans and mentally preparing herself for the first length of her travels.

Boy, is she going to be bored...

...

...

...

Five hours into her walk, she was exhausted. She was walking in the middle of a freeway littered with cars left and right and all looked _very_ tempting to just climb into and hot wire but she held back. Instead, she decided to just set down her backpack and sit in the middle of the road. She sighed once she sat down and immediately her feet began to relax.

"Man, who knew how painful walking could be." Max muttered quietly to herself. She laid back into the hard cement and covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow. "Just a couple minutes. Then I'll walk again."

...

...

...

Unfortunately, a couple minutes turned into fifteen minutes, then half an hour, then an hour. When Max opened her eyes, she sat up quickly with wide eyes and immediately began scanning the area and listening intently for any signs of Walkers near by. When she found none, she scrambled to her feet and grabbed her backpack and quickly set off on foot again.

She was angry with herself. How could she let herself fall asleep like that? She was so vulnerable! A Walker could have just_ waltzed_ up to her and ripped her heart out and she wouldn't have been prepared. Dammit! She was so _stupid_! Not to mention some other survivor could have thought she was a dead walker and taken all of her supplies and weapons! _Stupid!_

That was Eric's first rule! _Don't let yourself become vulnerable to the Walkers... or to anybody, for a matter of fact. _

"Sorry, Eric. I just broke your first rule." Max grumbled as she hitched her backpack higher onto her shoulders and sped up her walking a bit.

Thanks to her damned nap, she lost an hour in her walk _and_ she was loosing daylight and she still needs to find shelter. Max had a feeling she wouldn't be running into anymore Eric and Isabelle's anytime soon. And if she did run into anyone else, they'll be too worried about keeping themselves alive, they won't dare help her out.

"Damn, you're an idiot, Max."

...

...

...

Max had never felt more alone in her life. She felt like the only living creature in the world as she made her way down highway 599. If she hadn't known better, Max might have gone crazy seeing that there was no one with her. She had no leads on the whereabouts of her family or friends and there didn't seem to be a single living, _non-Walker_, soul around for miles.

Max looked down at her hands as she continued to walk. Just before the accident, her hands were holding those of her mother right before she left to go to a party her classmates had invited her to. The last she saw of her mother was a sweet smile and the words, "Be careful and have fun!"

Now, for all she knew, her mother was a Walker, or she was some Walker's dinner. And her sister? Ella? Jeb? What about her best friend, J.J? Is she

Thanks to her power-walking, much to the dismay of her poor feet, Max made it to Tukwila with about 3 hours of daylight still left.

As she stepped off the freeway and into the sidewalk, she took in the familiar settings. The buildings were the same, as were the streets and the light rail metro train to Seattle was still thankfully intact. She'll follow the tracks to Seattle once she was well rested.

The small town that was usually not on many maps still looked the same... only difference was that there were no bustling cars, walking pedestrians or... living bodies.

... Just _undead, walking_ bodies.

They were everywhere. They stumbled left and right and seemed to moan to themselves. Some were actually fighting each other, clawing at each other and ripping off each other's limbs and decaying flesh.

Max's heart pounded in her chest. How was she going to get past all of them without being noticed and attacked? She still had enough time to get to her own little safe house (at least she hoped it was safe) but with this big of an obstacle in her way, she won't make it until nighttime, which Eric and Isabelle warned her was the worst possible time to be out in the open. That's when the Walkers went active and _really_ began searching for food.

Maybe she could snipe the all down from behind the freeway divider... no, that'll just be a waste of ammo and still draw attention to herself.

She should find a different route... but surrounding the small town is a forest and if the town is overrun with Walkers then who knows what kind of undead creatures are hiding in the trees and bushes of the forest.

Max bit her lip while trying to think of a way to get past time. Of course, that's when she remembered something Eric told her: _"Walkers don't seem to have sight. They simply react to sound and smell and follow whatever their senses pick up. If you're quiet enough and your scent is masked, you can probably make it past a small hoard of them without being detected."_

Perfect. Only problem was that Max knew all too well that she smelled too much like a human. She's been sweating all day and no doubt, her deodorant has worn off by now. Her natural smell surrounds her like a thick fog. What Walker wouldn't be drawn to the smell of human?

She needed to find a way to get rid of her smell then...

She looked around her surroundings and began quickly thinking of anything useful that could help mask her scent, if only temporarily. As she thought, she quietly moved to crouch behind an abandoned car and brushed back her hair with her hand as she scrambled to think of an idea.

The idea hit her when she looked over the hood of the car to the nearest Walker. It was crazy, beyond crazy, but what if she could mask her scent with the scent of decaying flesh?

Moving swiftly and silently, Max pulled out her sniper gun and attached a silencer to it before taking aim at the closest Walker to her. She aim right in the back of his head before pulling the trigger. Max heard the sound of the bullet launch and split through the air at speeds faster than her eyes could track and watched as the Walker jerked before collapsing face first into the pavement.

Good. First part of her plan was finished. Now, she needed to grab the body.

She set down her backpack and put away her sniper and grabbed a simple handgun. Just in case. She dug into her backpack once more before pulling out a pair of gloves. She walked out from behind the car and ghosted over to the body, trying to keep her breathing quiet and praying to God that the Walkers didn't hear her heart pounding against her ribs.

Max slipped on the pair of gloves and began checking her body for any open cuts or wounds. Her abdomen wound was still covered in gauze and her shirt though it was just a large scab now. She didn't need to worry about that. Now, all she has to do is make sure that nothing of the Walker comes in contact with her mouth.

She crouched down and grabbed the Walker from under it's shoulders and dragged it back to her backpack's location. She strapped it on her back once more before bending down to lift up the body.

It absolutely _reeked_. Max fought the urge to gag or completely vomit whatever contents are in her stomach as the smell began to engulf her. Oh yeah, she'll definitely be able to get past the other Walkers without them smelling her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and carefully wrapped the dead Walker's arms around her shoulders and began slowly making her way forward.

Her heart pounded against her ribcage as she made her way through the streets. Some Walkers turned their head in Max's direction and her hand would always twitch towards the gun before relaxing when the Walker looked in a different direction. She bit her lip as she continued to carry the body of the Walker on her back, her brown eyes darting around rapidly, looking for a Walker that may attack her.

Max continued to walk slowly so to not attract attention from any of the corpses shuffling around her. When she looked up at the street signs, she refrained from sighing in relief. She was almost to the hill that led down to the main road where her home was located. As soon as she turned at an intersection, she looked down and noticed that there weren't any Walkers near the road. She had half the mind to just dump the rotting body into a near by bush but she couldn't chance it.

Puffing up one cheek she secured the Walker's body once more around her neck and started down the hill, though at a much faster pace than before. She decided she will only slow down when she sees another Walker or when her foot steps are becoming too loud.

As she walked, she looked around and saw many familiar houses. She used to take care of this sweet old couple's pet before she got in the accident. As she passed their house, she was horrified to see the windows shattered, the door hanging on it's hinges and blood smearing the brick walls.

She desperately prayed to God that the blood did not belong to the old couple and instead to someone else who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Deciding that that was what happened, she swallowed back bile and continued on.

Once she reached the bottom of the hill, she was at an intersection in the road. Empty or totaled cars littered the streets a long with some stumbling Walkers. Heart pounding again Max was about to continue walking in the direction of her home when she heard the familiar sound of a gun firing echoing around her.

She whirled around, eyes wide and fear slamming into her chest. Who the hell was shooting? Max looked around and saw that some Walkers began to make their way in the direction the gun shot came from.

Max could practically hear Eric screaming in her head to just ignore the people and keep going. Whoever they were had guns and probably could take care of themselves. Her top priority was getting back to her home before nightfall; in exactly two hours. It was already way too dark for Max's liking but something in her was telling her to go help them. Max didn't have the foggiest idea why. Maybe because if she was in trouble, she would want someone to come help her too. Maybe because Max had a good heart.

Without even really coming into a conclusion, Max's feet started towards where the gun shot came from. Just as she had taken her first ten steps, another shot went off. She gritted her teeth. Didn't those idiots know that the noise will just bring more Walkers to them? A gun firing is as equivalent as the ringing of the dinner bell!

She sped forward, making sure to walk in areas of the street farthest from any Walker. Once she got closer, she could hear the sounds of grunting and the sickening sound of crunching bones. She turned her head to see a small path leading off the sidewalk into a patch of woods. Without hesitation, she walked down the hill, making as much noise on purpose to announce her presence and stepped into a small clearing only to wince and take a reflexive step back when the earsplitting sound of a gun firing forced her to stop.

Max had felt some blood splatter on her face. Fortunately, her mouth and eyes had closed on instinct so none of the blood from the dead Walker hanging on her shoulder fell into her mouth. Dropping the body on the ground, she grabbed the edge of her shirt and wiped away the fluid. Angry at the idiot who was drawing a whole hoard to their location and the fact that the bastard with the gun almost blew off her head, she stomped the rest of the way into the clearing.

Max zeroed in on a tall, strawberry blonde boy with a gun in his hand. She marched up to him and got into his face (mentally happy that she was tall enough) and whispered angrily, "You dumbass, _idiot!_ What the hell do you think you're doing making all this damn noise? The way you're shooting your gun is like ringing the dinner bell for all the Walkers! You've got at least forty Walkers coming this way right now to rip you apart! You-"

The strawberry blonde guy cut her off, just as angrily. "What do you mean, _what the hell am I doing_? I'm trying to keep myself and my friends _alive_ here! You have no right to just barge in here and do whatever the hell you please! I don't even know you!"

"I don't see anyone else in the clearing besides you and me, buddy. Do you even know how to use that gun properly? Do you know how to tell apart a fucking Walker from a human? You nearly _shot me_ when I was coming into the clearing!" Max seethed, clenching her fists. The strawberry blonde man looked like he was about to retort but his blue eyes looked up before widening. Max whirled around, immediately spotting a couple of Walkers stumbling into the clearing. She wasted no time in grabbing her rifle out of her backpack, immediately finding her silencer. Once the silencer was in place, she took aim and fired. The bodies of the two Walkers fell and Max turned back to the boy. "You need to get a silencer. Or use a baseball bat with nails at the end, or a crowbar, or a pipe or _something_." Max said to him, turning back to the edge of the woods to look for any more Walkers.

"I just met you and already, I'm sick of your shit!" The guy hissed at her. "I don't know where to find a silencer, I'm running low on ammo, especially since I'm the only one with a gun and not to mention the fact that it's hard to find food around here, so just shut the hell up and-"

"Max?" A voice called. Max's eyes widened and she slowly turned to see a familiar face.

She looked older than Max remembered. Maybe it was just because her usually long, dark hair was now shoulder length. Maybe it was the new muscle build that she didn't have before, especially on her calves. Maybe it was the look in her dark brown eyes, the look of maturity, hope and determination compared to the look of innocence. "Ella?" Max asked in disbelief. She hadn't seen her sister since before the accident and even then, they weren't on good terms. It was a relief to see her baby sister was alive and well in the middle of Hell.

"Max! It is you!" Ella said and began running from her spot behind the tree towards her older sister. Max let her backpack and rifle drop on the ground next to the strawberry blonde guy and ran for her sister. The two collided in a painful embrace but neither flinched away. They held each other tightly and neither seemed to want to let go. "God, Max! I'm so sorry! I'm _so, so _sorry! I never should have gotten mad at you for something so stupid!" Ella whimpered into her sister's shoulder.

Max shushed Ella. "No, _I'm_ sorry, Ella. I never should have been so immature. You have nothing to apologize for." Max pulled away from Ella and held her face in between her hands. She brushed away strands of dark bangs. "Look at you. I don't know how long I was out for but it must have been a while. You look so grown up. Your bangs grew out." Max felt so happy and relieved yet angry with herself and frustrated that she had been such an awful sister. She has constantly teased and pissed off her sister and never felt any regret about it. Max realized with a deep sense of remorse that she barely every thought about her family until this moment.

That had to change.

Tears continued to fall down Ella's face as she smiled before it disappeared. "When did you wake up from your coma? The last I saw you was the day the doctor told us you might have been brain dead. He gave us a whole week to think about it, but the very next day was when the Outbreak happened. It just came out of nowhere! People were eating other people, Max! It was horrible... I-I lost sight of mom and dad when we were trying to go to the hospital to get you, cause we all knew that you were still alive somehow. I got to the hospital but they never showed up, Max. They never came back. And-And then suddenly-"

Max shushed her again, seeing her sister was on the verge of hysterics. "You don't have to tell me right now, El. You can tell me when you're ready." Max gave her sister a smile and ruffled her short hair.

Ella suddenly wrinkled her nose. "You stink."

Max grinned before saying, "It's the smell of Walker."

"What? Why would you want to smell like a Walker?" Ella's eyes widened. Max brushed back some of her own dark curls from her face and opened her mouth to reply but never got the chance to. She heard the sound of her rifle being fired and she whirled around to find Ella's strawberry blonde companion awkwardly handling her precious rifle and taking aim at a Walker. He fired again but missed, instead, sending the bullet into the shoulder of the Walker.

Max, now angrily that he had even _dared_ to touch her weapon, ran up to him and grabbed her rifle out of his hands, bumping him out of the way while quickly taking aim and shooting in less than three seconds. When Max turned to look at the blue eyed boy on the ground glaring up at her, she walked over to him and placed the barrel of the gun in between his eyebrows. "Do not_, _I repeat, do not _ever_ touch my guns. Got that?"

_'This kid has guts,' _Max thought as she watched the boy try to keep a steady glare directed towards her. His hands were shaking by his sides and Max saw sweat forming on his forehead. He was definitely intimidated. Good.

Max grabbed the strap of her rifle and swung it around her neck before turning away to look for Ella who disappeared. She furrowed her eyebrows and began looking around. She wanted to yell her sister's name but refrained from doing so in fear that any near by Walkers from the idiots previous gun shots were still near by.

She looked around and sighed in relief when she saw Ella walking back out from a patch of trees, only this time, she had a little girl with her.

Max stared wide eyed at them. Especially the little girl. She couldn't have been more than eight years old at the least. She was a small little thing! Blonde ringlets framed her heart-shaped face and bright blue eyes stared up at Max with curious, yet wary eyes. She clung like Ella like she was a lifeline. Her arms wrapped around Ella's hips while half hidden behind her fifteen year old form. In her arms, was a dirty white bear, dressed in what looked like a princess' dress and a bent golden halo atop it's head.

"Max," Ella said with a small smile on her face. "This is Angel. We found her in the treehouse of her home."

Max kneeled down to Angel's level and gave her a smile. "Hello, Angel. Nice to meet you, I'm Max." She held out her hand and waited for the young girl's reaction.

Angel stared at her for a bit, still half hidden behind Ella. Her eyes flickered from Max's face to her hands before taking a small step out from behind the older girl. She placed her small hand in Max's and wrapped her tiny finger around Max's first three fingers. Max grinned and wrapped her own digits around Angel's and they shook hands. Angel looked up and returned Max's smile. "Nice to meet you too, Max!" She replied.

"Uh, I hate to break up this reunion and meeting but there's a _lot_ of Walkers coming this way!" The strawberry blonde called urgently walking backwards towards them.

As soon as the word 'Walkers' registered in Max's brain, she immediately let go of Angel's hand and ran for her bag and rifle. As she whipped on her backpack and took aim with her rifle, she noticed that there were a lot more Walkers than she could handle. She aimed and shot at the nearest, hoping to buy them some time to run. "Guys! We gotta go!" Max said, lowering her rifle and pushing them all in the opposite direction. "Hey, tall-guy! Take Angel." Max grabbed Angel's hand from Ella's and the boy quickly scooped her up in his arms. Max turned to Ella and handed her Max's rifle. "You remember how to shoot, right? Like how Jeb taught us?" Ella gulped and nodded her head.

"Max, do you have any ideas of where to go? This was our last hiding spot." The tall guy asked, eyeing the rifle in Ella's hands warily.

Max didn't answer him, instead she grabbed a handgun from her backpack and twisted the silencer until it clicked and took aim and shot. "Ella, let's go to the house."

Ella fired. "What? I haven't been there in months, Max. For all we know," Another Walker fell. "it's overrun too."

"Well, it's the best chance we've got right now. If there are any Walkers, we'll just kill them and throw the bodies out." Max replied.

"Alright," Ella said. "I trust you. Let's go. Guys, follow me!" Ella turned and ran ahead, keeping the rifle up ahead of her and shooting at Walkers that looked like they'll get in their path. Max felt immensely happy that Ella remembered everything their father taught them. Max made Iggy and Angel walk behind Ella and in front of her. Max constantly looked behind with her handgun ready to fire.

"Max! I'm empty!" Ella shouted.

"S'all good, Els. It doesn't look like there are any Walkers that are going to get in our way, so long as we remain quiet and run fast." Max replied.

"Got it."

...

...

...

When the group arrived at the former Ride residency, Max found that Ella was right. The house was overrun. The door was wide open, though thankfully still on it's hinges, and Max could hear the sounds of groaning Walkers from inside the small home.

"Dammit, I hate being right," Ella mumbled to herself, still crouched behind the tree that stood next to the small home. Max, who was kneeling beside her rolled her eyes but chose not to reply with a sassy comment. She looked up across the street and saw the guy and Angel sitting quietly on one of the branches of the tree. It was Ella's idea. She said that Walkers couldn't climb anything, stairs they could manage but it took them hours so keeping Angel up in the tree was the safest bet they had just in case there was a stray Walker that neither Ella or Max saw. Ella's strawberry blonde companion stayed up there to keep Angel even safer since he obvious had no good experience with guns.

"Hey," Max whispered to Ella. "How come you didn't take the gun from that guy? He can't shoot for crap!"

"Who, Iggy?" Ella replied.

"His name is Iggy? What a weird name." She mumbled.

Ella grinned. "I know. Anyways, he refused to let me have the gun. I guess he didn't believe when I told him I used to go hunting and thought I was just trying to act tough. I could just see it in his face the first time I told him that." She turned back to look at the house. "I guess it's cause he only grew up with guys, never any strong girls around him."

"That sucks." Max huffed

"Tell me about it."

Max tapped Ella's shoulder twice, a signal they agreed on when one was going to go scope the area, and proceeded to walk around the side of the house to the back in hopes of getting a look through the back, glass door. Thankfully, the blinds weren't drawn and Max had a good view of the kitchen and the living room. She looked around and only spotted one Walker sitting on the floor with his eyes closed. Max narrowed her eyes but saw no bullet hole through it's head, so most likely it wasn't dead.

When the two sisters met up again, they decided to just enter the home and shoot any Walker they saw.

Both slowly and silently walked in, guns pointed and backs hunched. Max went in first with Ella close behind her. Both had their brown eyes open and searching, ears alert for any sounds. Max signaled to split up and search the rooms. Ella nodded and walked forward but was stopped when Max poked her with the barrel of her gun. Max almost forgot about the Walker sitting in the dining room that both had to walk through to get to the rest of the house.

She stepped ahead of Ella and quickly turned the corner and took aim on the sitting Walker. It looked up at her and opened it's mouth to let out a screech. Before it could, though, Max quickly shot it in between the eyes. Ella peeked around the corner and her eyes widened. She looked up to her older sister who gave her a nod and they both searched the rest of the home.

When the girls were finished, they searched the back yard and the neighbors'. They counted up a total of twenty Walker bodies. They grabbed gloves from under their kitchen sink (surprised there were still there) and began dragging out the rotting bodies. They didn't want their home to stink anymore than it already did. Once they were done, they simply piled them in the woods near their home.

"We can't burn them. They might be blind but no doubt the sound of the burning bodies will draw the Walker's attention." Max pointed out.

"The fire might attract any other survivors," Ella pointed out.

Max turned around and headed back towards the home. "We can't afford to have more mouths to feed and backs to watch."

"But-"

"No buts, Ella." Max turned to look at her younger sister and sighed at the look of frustration in her eyes. "Look, Ella... This is the damn apocalypse. The thing we thought only existed in movies is now reality and the only thing we need to worry about is surviving. I know you want to help everyone who is still alive out there. Trust me, I know because I do too, but that's not possible right now. There's you, me, Iggy and Angel. Four people and I already think that's a lot."

"What about our family? What about mom and dad? I didn't recognize any of the Walkers we killed as them so they _must_ have gotten away! What if their still alive?" Ella cried, grabbing Max's hands.

Max felt horrible but she had to get it into Ella's head that it's Survival of the Fittest now. The smarted, swiftest, strongest and most dangerous of all will come out alive in the end. Not those who don't even worry about their own survival. She has to accept that like Max did. It took her a while for her to accept it but Eric and Isabelle drilled it into her head in the end. Find those you love and keep them close but let them go if they can't survive in this world. It explains why you don't see any or very many elderly or young children survivors.

"Ella, you have to understand that if they are alive, they'll find us. If we find them, then that's awesome. But think about it, if we find our family, then Iggy will want to find his and so will Angel. Our group will become too big. We'll be a lot easier for Walkers to find. We'll have more mouths to feed and more people to look out for. I know you know that saying that victory comes in greater numbers or whatever, but in this case, that saying is irrelevant." Max concluded.

Ella glared fiercely at her and let go of Max's hands. She then turned and started making her way back to the house where Iggy and Angel were now setting up their things and scavenging for food and other necessities that are still good.

Max sighed. "Think about it, Els!" Max called after her. She received no answer in return and she didn't expect one.

Max sighed again as she ran her fingers through her nappy dark curls. Ella will understand sooner or later. She has to.

* * *

**Okay, so I think this chapter is pretty long. If you don't then... well... okay. **

**Not much happened in this chapter. It'll probably be like that for the next chapter too unless I decide to do a timeskip thing. I plan to make this story around 20 or more chapters. It really all depends how long my chapters are. **

**Anyways, if you guys, anyone, spots any mistakes, PLEASE don't hesitated to let me know! Even when I go over the chapter myself, I tend to miss them on accident =C **

**REVIEW PLEASE! Flames are okay, and constructive criticism is greatly encouraged!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't any MR characters mentioned in this story. They belong to James Patterson.  
CLAIMER: I own any unfamiliar characters that are not in the MR series or any series of J.P. They belong to me! **

**_HAPPY 2013, GUYS! _  
**


	4. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE SORRY!

Hey guys. Sorry! I know you were hoping for a chapter update. I went and re-read my chapters earlier today and I decided that I'm going to rewrite and edit all three chapters before I post up chapter four.

I found a lot of mistakes and contradictions in my own writing and a lot what was way too similar to The Walking Dead for my own comfort. I'm going to just change some things and take out this and that and make some chapters longer. I'm changing some things about Max too and some of the plot. Beginning will be the one chapter with the most change. Max's accident will change and the story behind it. She'll still wake up in the hospital though.

Other than that, most edits and changes will subtle or I'll point them out in an author's note beforehand.

Sorry, again guys!

I start summer vacation in a week and after my surgery I'll be bedridden for a month so I'll have PLENTY of time to write the chapters :)

thanks!

OH! And if anyone has any ideas for this story that you think would be nice to add to this story, PM me and let me know!

-MidnightStarsXx


	5. ANOTHER IMPORTANT AN MUST READ

[June 19, 2013]

Alright guys, last author's note for this story I swear.

I'm changing up the whole story plot, you guys know that by now I hope.

So, once I have the first revised chapter up, I'm deleting the rest of the chapters that are up here so there's no confusion for any new readers.

This might take a while though.

Any of you who read my story and were on today will know that Fanfiction had some kind of minor shut down for a few minutes.

When that happened, I had just finished writing out THE WHOLE FIRST NEW CHAPTER OF AtD.

I CLICKED SAVE.

'_Cannot Connect to Server'_

I was **so pissed off**.

Once FF was back up, I reloaded the page and I saw that it did not save a sing word of my chapter.

If I was not currently crippled, I probably would have stood up and completely flipped my desk over.

For the time being, I'm too frustrated to go back and rewrite it again because it took me a whole hour and I need to take my pain medication right now and it makes me drowsy anyways.

So, until my temper has calmed and I find the will to rewrite that whole damn chapter again, I'm going to post it up and go with my plan.

Sorry guys! I'm not going to give up on this story, I swear.

But just so you can read something interesting other than my temper tantrum, I'm going to give you guys a sneak peak of the new chapter:

* * *

_"So, how did you guys sneak out?" Max asked the two men. _

_"It's easy once you know how everything works. You either manage to pay off the guards, sneak around them or take the underground road. Much easier but also a lot riskier. The more people use it, the sooner or later someone will rat us out to the guards." Ari replied easily. _

_"So only our little group knows about it." Omega continued. _

_"A group, huh?" _

_"Yup,"_

* * *

So that was it! I'm changing the whole plot and adding in some characters I never meant to have before, like Human!Omega.

Major characters I've already introduced, like Ella, Iggy, and Angel, will be introduced in a different way (obviously).

Major characters like Fang and Jeb will be introduced sooner but also not as soon as I'm sure many of you would have liked.

The two OCs I had before will be removed. Might or might not use them later. I'm still mapping out and planning the new plot.

Lots of death. Sorry. It's an apocalypse, guys with a dash of _super_ corrupted government. You can have those two without casualties.

Again, I'm sorry this wasn't a chapter and that this is taking a lot longer than you or I would have liked. Don't give up on this story please! If I don't, I would like to see a lot of you sticking around too.

Thanks guys.

(I'm going to steal Fang's line)

_Fly On._

~MidnightStarsXx


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